The father of Stephen Lawrence has criticised police chiefs for their new race plan, accusing them of failing to listen and saying they are doomed to repeat the same mistakes.
Dr Neville Lawrence was speaking after police chiefs unveiled a scheme they claim will repair relations with Britain’s black communities.
In the plan, they fail to accept their forces are still “institutionally racist”, which was the landmark finding of the 1999 Macpherson report on the police errors that allowed Stephen’s killers to escape justice.
On Monday night one chief constable spoke out to say policing was institutionally racist, but while others believe so privately, most do not.
In the plan covering England and Wales, which is going out to public consultation, senior officers say they are “ashamed” by the bias and racism blighting policing and vow to do better.
Lawrence said: “They are not listening to anyone, they are a law unto themselves. What’s the point in telling people you are sorry and then saying you are not going to do anything about it?”
The Macpherson finding 23 years ago of institutional racism was resented by some in policing. In recent years some forces – most notably the Metropolitan police – have denied it applies any more.
Lawrence said: “If you don’t admit to something, how are you going to fix it? How many years since the inquiry and they have still not fixed what is wrong. They are not going to change what they are doing.”
Stephen was 18 when a gang stabbed him to death in a racially motivated attack at a south London bus stop. After Macpherson, the then Labour government put pressure on police to reform.
The Lawrences buried Stephen in Jamaica, and Lawrence, speaking from there, said the government had to step in to force change. “The only person who could change their behaviour and force them to change is the home secretary. Everybody knows they are not going to change,” he said.
“It is a waste of time. They know what they need to do. They need to change and treat people with respect no matter what they look like.”
Lawrence said communities would be disappointed by the plan, and added: “They never admit it, they always say they are not institutionally racist.”
At a press conference to launch the plan, three respected police chiefs – David Thompson, the chief constable of the West Midlands, who oversaw the plan; Andy Marsh, the chief executive of the College of Policing; and Tyron Joyce, an assistant chief constable of West Yorkshire, who also worked on the plan – were asked whether institutional racism still affected policing. They declined to answer.
Joyce said the whole debate should not get hung up on that phrase, adding: “I get that there is an awful lot of emotion linked to those two words. But actually it is the action we should be focusing on now, and moving forward.”
Two others on the panel who have been helping police with the plan said policing was still institutionally racist – Andy George, the president of the National Black Police Association, and Abimbola Johnson, the chair of an independent oversight board meant to ensure top officers come up with a more rigorous plan that pays attention to what communities want.
Police chiefs debated a public acceptance of institutional racism but could not agree, and sources say there was significant resistance.
But one has accepted it still applies. Lucy D’Orsi, the chief constable of British Transport Police, said black communities suffered from overpolicing. “I find Macpherson’s definition of institutional racism difficult to challenge when I consider the collective failure of our service to proportionately police Black communities,” she said.
“When Black people are significantly less likely (64%) to trust the police than white people (74%), that tells me all I need to know about institutional racism. Overpolicing is not OK and it can’t continue.”
